Apple has officially unveiled the new iPad Air powered by the M4 chip, bringing a major leap in performance, AI capabilities and connectivity while keeping the same starting price. Designed for students, creators, professionals and gamers, the latest iPad Air combines power and versatility in a sleek portable form.
The device is available in two sizes – 11-inch and 13-inch – and comes in four finishes: blue, purple, starlight and space grey. Powered by Apple’s M4 chip with an 8-core CPU and 9-core GPU, the new iPad Air delivers a significant performance boost. Apple claims it is up to 30% faster than the M3 version and up to 2.3 times faster than the M1 model. The upgraded GPU also supports hardware-accelerated ray tracing and mesh shading, enabling highly realistic graphics and making demanding tasks like video editing, 3D rendering and gaming smoother than ever.
AI performance also sees a major upgrade. The iPad Air now features 12GB of unified memory and 120GB/s memory bandwidth, along with a 16-core Neural Engine that is three times faster than the M1. This enables faster on-device AI tasks such as note transcription, photo search, video editing features and creative workflows in apps like Goodnotes and Final Cut Pro.
Connectivity is enhanced with Apple’s new N1 wireless chip and C1X cellular modem, supporting Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 6, Thread and faster 5G connectivity. Cellular models also include GPS and eSIM support, making it easier to stay connected anywhere.
Running on iPadOS 26, the device introduces a refreshed interface with Liquid Glass design, an improved windowing system, upgraded Files app and a new Preview app for viewing and editing PDFs.
The iPad Air supports Apple Pencil Pro, Apple Pencil (USB-C) and Magic Keyboard, making it ideal for productivity and creativity.
In India, the 11-inch iPad Air starts at ₹64,900, while the 13-inch version starts at ₹84,900. Pre-orders began March 4, with availability starting March 11.
